showing interest when applying for residency

[XRanger]

During residency panel at my school, many PDs tell us that they're looking for student who can show interest in the specialty they're applying to.
I don't know what specialties I want to go into but there are some competitive ones that i'm considering that we don't rotate through our 3rd year. let say at the end of 3rd year, I decided to do an elective in say ortho and loved it, and so I decide to apply to ortho residency. Besides that 4 weeks elective in ortho, you don't really have any other way to express interest do you? since you apply for residency at the beginning of 4th year.

Right now I'm doing research and applying for a leadership position in different specialties to hopefully gain some kind of exposure and to network a little, but what if I decided to apply to a totally different specialty, then i don't have anything to show interest. how do people express interest? or is it just mostly step 1 score and clerkship grades that matter?

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[Rollo]

Yeah doing research and joining those clubs and getting leadership positions and perhaps shadowing and networking with some residents is about all you can do the first two years that shows "early interest" in a particular specialty.

But I imagine that more often than not, students end up choosing and applying for specialty that they never imagined they would end up applying to. The fact that you're at least attempting to explore specialties through various means shows something.

Obviously, you can't help it if you end up liking ob/gyn and you always imagined yourself NOT liking it.

I am also gonna go ahead and guess that during 4th year elective time, you can do research in the specialty you've recently fell in love with or do a sub-I or away rotation in that specialty to show your interest in such a short period.

 

[Law2Doc]

Yeah doing research and joining those clubs and getting leadership positions and perhaps shadowing and networking with some residents is about all you can do the first two years that shows "early interest" in a particular specialty.

But I imagine that more often than not, students end up choosing and applying for specialty that they never imagined they would end up applying to. The fact that you're at least attempting to explore specialties through various means shows something.

Obviously, you can't help it if you end up liking ob/gyn and you always imagined yourself NOT liking it.

I am also gonna go ahead and guess that during 4th year elective time, you can do research in the specialty you've recently fell in love with or do a sub-I or away rotation in that specialty to show your interest in such a short period.

Doing research in your desired field, away rotations at a desired program, joining the appropriate interest group club tend to be the things most students can do. For ortho I've seen folks delay graduation for a year to do more research and away rotations to enhance their chances, with variable success.

Naming your first born "Ortho" might help too.

 

[j48seconds]

This is also where your personal statement helps. It may be just my particular specialty, but some people do take the time to read it. You have the opportunity to talk about interest in the PS.

 

[Rollo]

This is also where your personal statement helps. It may be just my particular specialty, but some people do take the time to read it. You have the opportunity to talk about interest in the PS.

It has always baffled me how doing a one month rotation where you have very little responsibility (and dare I say, medical knowledge of the particular specialty) is supposed to make it clear to you that this is, in fact, what you want to do for the next ~40 years.